News Brief

5/5/2014, Iyar 5, 5774

Report: Odessa Jews Prepared to Evacuate

The Jewish community of the Ukrainian city of Odessa is prepared for mass evacuation, should violence re-erupt there, according to a Monday report by Russia Today. Clashes between anti-government and pro-government activists in the past weeks culminated in the deaths on Friday of dozens of opponents of the new authorities, most of whom burned to death in a building, besieged by armed radicals, who used Molotov cocktails and firearms in a crackdown on the protester’s camp.

Rabbi Avraham Wolf, representing the Chabad hasidic community, said they are taking extra security measures, such as posting armed guards, and are prepared for a possible evacuation. Together with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, they have prepared a fleet of 70 buses, fueled and ready to go.